Uh-oh: The girl you babysit won’t stop asking if you have a boyfriend and will clearly gain respect for you if the answer is yes. Because of this, it’s important to take the right steps in this scenario to prove you aren’t single in a loveless and empty way, but in a way she should think is cool.
Remind her that you’ve never been happier in your life.
Challenge her pro-boyfriend mentality by telling her what you tell everyone: “I’ve never been happier in my life. Really.” If she ignores this comment or tries to change the subject, just incorporate it into the conversation again. Pander to her interests by adding: “Living with four roommates instead of a boyfriend is just like having a slumber party every night!” She doesn’t have to know your roommates are all in six-year-long relationships.
Break the news to her that her old babysitter might not be as cool as she thinks.
If she tries to pull out the classic argument that her previous cooler babysitter Kelsey had a boyfriend, you might have to be the one to give her some tough love that Kelsey isn’t the end-all-be-all of cool. Just because someone looks like they have it all doesn’t mean they actually do. Most of the time, they are actually just secretly wishing they could have more cool alone time in their car like you.
Draw comparisons between yourself and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
If you still don’t have her convinced, just start making weird comparisons to yourself and strong female figures. Tell her that you are excluding love from your life to make time for the possibility of becoming a Supreme Court justice or a triathlete. Sure, Ruth Bader Ginsburg may have had a husband, but everyone knows that doesn’t really count.
Give up and just tell her you have a boyfriend.
At this point, if you see no way of gaining her affection back, just jump ship and pretend to have a boyfriend. Typically, honesty is the best policy, but if the admiration of the girl you babysit is at stake, it is ultimately acceptable to adopt a fabricated identity that fits her preconceived mold of a female role model. What a relief!
Little girls are apparently set in their ways on the whole boyfriend thing, and there is just nothing you can do about it. At the end of the day, the girl you babysit is likely in the most formative stage of her life, and it’s important to remember to do whatever you can to make sure she still thinks you, her babysitter, are cool.
